Wrong Line Of Work?

by admin on February 1, 2010

A few years ago when I was in law school, I received an internship for the summer. I was pretty excited, as the internship was directly connected with volunteer work that I had done extensively in college. I went to the school’s career service office to thank someone for recommending that I apply there. Another student, “Amanda” was there, and apparently, overheard me. This is how our conversation went:

Amanda: “Oh, you got a job at ______?”

Me: “I did! I start on X date.”

Amanda: “But you do realize that you’ll be helping people?”

Me (very puzzled): “Yeah….”

Amanda: “But you’re a *insert member of a group*.”

Me: “I’m not getting your point. We can–and do–go into this type of work. I was heavily involved in Y organization in college for all 4 years. I was even an officer my last two years.”

Amanda: “Yeah, well, considering you’re a __________, I think you did that only to boost your resume.” *walks out*

I was disgusted by her behavior, but sadly, not surprised. By this point in her law school career, Amanda had earned the reputation of being an immature, angry, high strung little witch who constantly found fault with everyone she met. I’ve heard her ranting about people because of their religion, nationality, political views, age (most of the students were over 30), and looks. 0813-09

The jealousy situation just takes over when competition runs high. I ran into a similar problem when I was awarded a prestigious internship at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. It takes a lot of strength to maintain your composure! I guess in the end though, I came out the better person because the Dean of our school was standing right behind the girl as she pointed out my flaws. Needless to say, her seemingly harmless discussion turned into a full-blown exercise in the necessity of proper etiquette.

I don’t think VoR intended that as a snarky comment. Walter Cronkite is one of the great journalists of the era, and to get a internship at the Cronkite School of Journalism really does sound very prestigious. I would love to have an opportunity like that myself!